Farbenlehre und Farbkreis (Grundlagen der Bestattungskosmetik)

Color theory and color wheel (basics of funeral cosmetics)

Color theory

What are the basics of color theory, what is a color wheel and how are these basics applied in funeral cosmetics?

A funeral director who wants to carry out successful cosmetic treatments should definitely have a basic understanding of color theory. This knowledge not only helps in choosing the right cosmetics for the deceased, but is also a good aid in finding the right lighting in the farewell room.

What is a color wheel?

The color wheel is a component of color theory and serves as a classification system to identify which colors go together. The most common color wheel according to Itten considers yellow, red and blue to be the primary colors. Many different colors can be created from these three primary colors.

The primary colors cannot be mixed with other colors. However, they can be used to mix the three secondary colors in equal proportions:

Red and yellow make orange.
Blue and red make violet.
Yellow and blue make green.

Tertiary colors are created by mixing a primary color with an adjacent secondary color on the color wheel. This results in a further six colors in the color wheel with the same mixing ratio, namely red-orange, yellow-orange, red-violet, blue-violet, yellow-green and blue-green.

The colors with the highest contrast are opposite each other in the color wheel, the so-called complementary colors.

If three colors in the color wheel are connected by an isosceles triangle, they are considered harmonious. They are perceived by the eye as related and belonging together. Colors that are next to or opposite each other on the color wheel also match.

Color perception and color perception: How do colors work?

Colors between yellow-green and red are referred to as warm colors and appear close.

Cold colors between violet-red and green, on the other hand, appear fresh and distant. Both behave in the same brightness in such a way that the warm tones come to the front and the cold tones fall to the back or visually recede.

Colors often convey an association and produce different effects in people.

Color psychology in the western world: What do which colors stand for?

White stands for purity, peace, innocence, cleanliness.

Black stands for energy, darkness, death, anonymity, evil.

Gray stands for maturity, age, modesty, dignity.

Red stands for love, passion, strength, activity, danger.

Yellow stands for summer, sun, cheerfulness, freshness, gold, jealousy, illness.

Blue stands for sky, sea, trust, cold, melancholy.

Orange stands for boldness, energy, danger.

Green stands for nature, spring, hope, security, calm.

Purple stands for wisdom, maturity, drama.

Brown stands for sensitivity, reliability, conservatism.

How are these basic principles applied in funeral cosmetics?

Skin stains, discolorations, injuries, bruises and others are generally covered and neutralized with complementary colors. For example, blue-black discolorations are covered with yellowish tones.

For facial cosmetics, there are base tones and shading colors, among others. For Western European people, these are largely based on red tones. The light base shade is applied evenly over the entire face, whereas darker shades are used to shade the naturally darker areas of the face, such as the dark circles under the eyes, the corners of the nose or under the eyebrows.

You can find out more about the application of the colors and the individual steps of the cosmetic treatment in the book "Restorative Art", which can be found in the Lavabis online store.

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